Old Guard Meets The Future In San Francisco Bay

SAN FRANCISCO – In a historic rendezvous, the Coast Guard Cutter Barque Eagle, and the cutter Bertholf passed along side each other near the San Francisco Ferry Terminal today.

The Coast Guard Cutter Eagle is a three-masted barque, and carries square-rigged sails on the fore and main masts. The sailing vessel is 295 feet long, can attain speeds of up to 17 knots under full sail, and has the capacity to carry 239 passengers and crew. The Eagle has been in service within the Coast Guard since 1946, serving as a training platform for cadets and officer candidates to learn leadership, teamwork, seamanship, and navigation skills. She is the only square-rigged sailing vessel still actively serving in the Unites States military. The Eagle is visiting San Francisco and five other West Coast ports, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Astoria, Tacoma, and Victoria, British Columbia.

The Bertholf is the lead ship in the new Legend class of cutters designed to be the flagship of the modern Coast Guard fleet. Bertholf will improve operational readiness and enable the Coast Guard to fulfill its multi-mission roles more effectively through better sea keeping, higher sustained transit speeds, greater endurance and range, and a greater ability to launch and recover improved small boats, helicopters, and eventually unmanned aerial vehicles – all key attributes in enabling the Coast Guard to implement increased security responsibilities.

For additional pictures of the Bertholf and Eagle, just click on the link to our Flickr photostream in the sidebar